Why We Blog (and Who We Are)

Technorati.com tracks 48.6 million sites and 2.7 billion links. Japanese are the biggest bloggers, but they tend to be kids posting personal trivia to friends. English is the most common political blog language. The average American political blogger is a well-educated, middle class white guy. Liberal bloggers outnumber conservatives, but conservatives get more comments.

Why do we do it? Few bloggers make money by writing and most never will. They don't care because they just like to talk. They talk in general, not only online. Bloggers are active in their communities and among their friends. They like the idea that they can spread their ideas and keep on talking even when nobody is paying attention anymore. It is a compulsion, maybe even pathology. Bloggers overestimate their own importance.

That is not to say that bloggers have not influenced key events. MSM did not cover the Trent Lott comments on Strom Thurman until the blogs pushed it. It is also probably true that w/o blogs John Kerry would be our president, since the Rathergate affair would have gone unchallenged. Nevertheless, the big payoff to a blog swarm comes when some parts of the MSM pick up the story. We (bloggers) also still depend on MSM for most of our facts and research.

Blogs may or may not be good for democracy. They provide a space for civil society, but they also provide space for terrorists or weirdoes to congregate. You can find counter terrorism, but terrorists have also become adept at using the internet. In China, blogs were instrumental is whipping up anti-Japanese riots and it probably easier for a populist, nationalist or provocateur to get a blog audience than it is for a reasonable guy.

Governments are nervous about blogs. India cracked down on blogs in the wake of the Mumbai bombing, both to stop terrorists from communicating and to hold down anti- Muslim backlash. The Chinese are very good at blocking access. The anomaly is Iran, which hardly blocks blogs at all. There is some doubt whether or not the ramshackle regime CAN do it. They tend to deal with bloggers the old fashioned way anyway.

Every candidate for office now has a blog. Whether or not he/she writes it is another question. You never really know who you are talking to on a blog, but - with the exception of someone like a plagiarizing politician -maybe you don't need to. Bloggers are what they write. Would it help to know their "secret identity" If you can explain something, you are doing a good job. If not, it doesn't matter what your resume says you can do. (It is like a guy at Gold's Gym saying he is strong because he spends a lot of time at the gym. Better to ask him pick up something heavy and find the truth.)

Some people think the day of the blog is already passed high noon and that Internet social networks (like My Space) or that audio or video (Flickr, YouTube and other photo and video-sharing Internet sites.) will soon supplant blogs. Maybe, but probably not. Blogs have a limited audience, but those who prefer short messages or video are gone already OR more likely blogs are a part of their total information mix. Most of us watch TV, listen to radio, read newspapers and magazines and still look at blogs. Who knows? Maybe a mix. Angela Merkel has her own video blog, can Bush be far behind? Maybe that is the future. (I hope not, since I am not good looking enough for a video blog. With the written word nobody knows if you are a dog.) But anyway, we are notoriously bad at predicting the future of these things.

I said that they may or may not be good for democracy. Some people assume that if people just communicate, everything will be okay. But sometimes the more the communicate, the less they like each other.

My own feeling is that blogs are a net plus from democracy, but it is not always a clear choice.

We don’t need to ridicule you. I am always happy when I get comments such as yours. If the bottom line is about debate, maybe you should try.

You can now probably write your own response to your own comments using some sort of name like “true red conservative” and then you can follow with shock, SHOCK at such abuse. As I wrote, on a blog nobody knows you are a dog (or maybe two or more).

I do find your comments quite funny, the one about how the liberal blog comments are all about ‘the bottom line’ and the debate. No, tlc, liberal blog comments are all about how much Bush sucks and how he lied and how liberals must ‘get even’ with what happened to Clinton.

But really, the only one I see calling anyone names here is you. Keep up the good work!

I’m not sure how anyone could conscrew that Jack called you a dog from his comment. I think you’re going to have to stick around and keep making insipid comments for a while longer in order for someone to start calling you names.

An ad hominem fallacy consists of asserting that someone’s argument is wrong and/or he is wrong to argue at all purely because of something discreditable/not-authoritative about the person or those persons cited by him rather than addressing the soundness of the argument itself.

Sorry, tlc, Jack did not make an ad hominem attack on you. You made no ‘arguments’ the he was trying to counter, you just started out of the box attacking a group of people you hate. I suppose if you had provided some sort of evidence to back up your claim it could have been an argument…

I guess I’ll just wait now for you to make an actual point to counter, this attempt to try to ‘pull out’ your point for you is making my head hurt and really taking over the article in a way that violates the spirit of the blog (one that is not only democratic and republican but also other political thoughts as well).

I do hope to see an actual point soon though! It sure makes debate much more interesting when they exist.

Oh, I beg to differ. Blogs will stand the test of time, but they will morph a little or a lot.

Blogs are a limited form of warfare.

What blogs do is illuminate the rhetoric of the fools as well as that of the intellectuals. But the readers can make up their own minds about who’s talking sense or nonsense. This is the rare quality with blogs.

Blogs are proof that people need a better outlet for information. Most folks don’t trust the old sources. We cannot blame them. Just look at the New York Times who’s betrayed our trust.

Because the literates will always verbally out do the illiterates, the morph will gravitate toward the intelligent being listened to rather than the empty prose of the idiots being listened to. In other words, the left will lose and the right will win the blog war.

How’s that for a quick conclusion?

There’s more to this argument, but I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Some blogger might “borrow” my thoughts.

Long live Watchblog. The only blog I’ve been on where all sides can have at it with each other and not be barred.
Conservative blogs and Liberal blogs will both bar anyone that disagrees with them. What gets you barred from here it showing total disrespect for fellow bloggers. Not your opinions.

I started out as a liberal blogger, but I guess I wasn’t very good at it. For all practical purposes, I lost every argument in which I participated. So now I claim to be a conservative that just snipes now and then.

It’s easier to be a conservative than a liberal. You don’t have to be self-loathing, and you don’t have to go against everything for which American stands.

“There’s more to this argument, but I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Some blogger might “borrow” my thoughts.”

My aren’t we smug?

Jack,

Have you considered the “community” aspect of bloggers?
In my travels through the Internet, I have noticed that while a few people can be read all over, many congregate in just a few places. Most blogs seem only to attract the crowds relevant to the political persuasion of the blogger.
Watchblog, on the other hand, has a varied core group, and more visitors of all beliefs than I have seen any place else.

My greatest disappointment though, is that even here people are judged and pigeonholed by those at the extremes, as if their politics were the only thing that mattered in their life.

This is one reason I blog. Would that it were my main reason. The spirit is willing but the flesh is indeed weak.
From the New Living Translation
2Timothy 2:23,26
Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. The Lord’s servants must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone. They must be able to teach effectively and be patient with difficult people. They should gently teach those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will believe the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the Devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

Trying to have a logically based arguement with a liberal is like banging your head repeatedly against a brick wall…you get a massive headache and the brick wall is still a brick wall. (But at least the brick wall feels good about being brick wall).

Being called a Weirdo, hey that is the nicest thing someone has called me today.
Thanks Jack, and we don’t agree on alot, but did like this article.
I am neither a liberal or conserative, but a person who is looking for the truth, and voices my opinion like everyone else does.
Hey if we can’t talk and disagree with each other then we must be in China

By the way I never voted for Carter, although hind-sight in to Regan’s character (“I don’t remember…)frequently made me wonder about my choice. Oh, and I’m still waiting for my share of the trickle down pennies…

Except I won’t even see my pennies if the mint quits making them….oh well….